Saturday, June 26, 2010

June 26 – What Kind of Deal is This?

In the last fifteen days or so, we have made a study in Cor Unum of the Biblical injunctions which are given in the book of Romans, of which there are about THIRTY in only twenty-one verses. Here are those just of the last ten days . . .

Let love be without hypocrisy Abhor what is evil cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor; not lagging behind in diligence,fervent in spirit,serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope,and, today’s entry, persevering in tribulation!

Just when we were doing so well! We were loving and serving and preferring and hating evil . . . what tribulation???

The best answer is . . . the tribulation we will encounter if we really want to travel on in Christ Jesus! The kind, in fact, that will enable us to persevere in all the rest of these and many other kind instructions!

In Romans 5:3 it is written . . . “And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations,knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance . . .” EXULT? THAT is a strong word!

List-making makes us feel virtuous; attending to our lists makes us glad; but it is perseverance that makes us strong and real.

So we are brought to the point: if we want to know the unending joy of hope, we must attend to unending perseverance, always rejoicing, always hoping, always clinging to what is good. Just as we gazed upon earthly majesty yesterday, we must determine that in our lives, during our “reign” in life in King Jesus, tribulation must bow to good and glory, for we shall not give way.

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Psalm 27:4

It has been my privilege to compile a "monastic" devotional for everyday life and for women in all walks of life. We take part in this "Cyber Monastery" for the purpose of growth in devotion and the "practice of the Presence of God."

Although we may never meet, we share this cloister and this life through our prayer and worship and small, determined steps in godliness.

Neither Catholicism nor holy orders are required here; this is the most ancient monasticism, the kind that took Anna into the temple in the second chapter of Luke, Moses into the Tent of Meeting, and Paul into seclusion in the early days of his conversion. Within our families and our churches, day and night, alone or in company, we are "marketplace monastics," living to bring pleasure to the heart of God.

Join us - your new "habit" awaits ... here in Cor Unum Abbey.

"One thing have I desired of the Lord; that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord, all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in His temple."